Book Review - Homecoming

Title: Homecoming

Author: Kass Morgan

Series: The 100 (Book 3)

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks

Release Date: 26 Feb. 2015

ISBN: 978-1473610798

Synopsis

Weeks after landing on Earth, the Hundred have managed to create a sense of order amidst their wild, chaotic surroundings. But their delicate balance comes crashing down with the arrival of new dropships from space.
These new arrivals are the lucky ones—back on the Colony, the oxygen is almost gone—but after making it safely to Earth, GLASS’s luck seems to be running out. CLARKE leads a rescue party to the crash site, ready to treat the wounded, but she can’t stop thinking about her parents, who may still be alive. Meanwhile, WELLS struggles to maintain his authority despite the presence of the Vice Chancellor and his armed guards, and BELLAMY must decide whether to face or flee the crimes he thought he’d left behind.
It’s time for the Hundred to come together and fight for the freedom they’ve found on Earth, or risk losing everything—and everyone—they love.

My Review

This book starts exactly where book 2 ended. All these books feel like one long story that has been split into separate books, not sure why - maybe it just makes them more accessible to more people. Either way, the story is the same, and I must admit there is something satisfying about finishing another book.

Anyway, we are still with our four narrators - Wells, Bellamy, Clarke and Glass.

We have moved forward with the settlement on Earth, Wells is taking charge, Ballamy and Clarke are finally together and life seems to be ticking along, but this is all soon disrupted by the crash landing of the remaining ships carrying the few survivors from the evacuation from space. Hurtling Glass and numbers of civilians towards the earth.

As I say, we are straight back into the action and I like how the two groups are brought together. Showing the different dynamics between the 100 who have been on Earth a few weeks and actually adapted and survived in stark contrast to those fresh off the ship.

I actually ended up reading this in two sittings, the first I got about 100 pages in, then a few days later I sat and managed to finish the other 250 ish pages in one go.

I don't know what it was about this book, but I wanted to keep reading because I really wanted to know what would happen, but I was also slightly bored in places - this never slowed my reading down as it is quite an easy read, but there were certain things I would skim read slightly.

We are not supposed to like him, but I despised Vice Chancellor Rhodes, but not in a compelling 'what will he do next' way, but in a 'get over yourself and b** off' kind of way. I didn't see him as a legitimate bad guy or threat, just as an annoyance and it bugged me how much power he managed to have. And the way things ended with him annoyed me too, I mean come on. He was right there!!

I've always been on the fence with Glass, I liked her a lot more in book 2, but in this one, she is about as much use as a wet blanket, she becomes quite whiny and just an inconvenience, her and Luke are totally irresponsible and even when his life is at risk she can't quite take charge. I get her situation is over-whelming and rather extreme, but come on girl - pull yourself together.

Clarke is still growing as a character and I like her development, but her obsession with the radio got a bit out of hand, I didn't believe she would neglect her doctor duties to spend hours twiddling buttons.

Wells has his moments where I love him as a character and I'm hoping desperately things will work out for him, and I want him to get everything he wants and deserves. But at other times, he annoys the heck out of me, he becomes really self-obsessed and focuses on all the negative things he has done, and suddenly every problem in the world is his fault. We do find out in this series that he did a horrible thing, that yes was quite catastrophically bad, but he can't change it and really just needs to focus on making up for it with his actions from now on.

There were a few other things that bugged me, for instance Wells insists that Kendall is up to something, this then gets ignored for over 200 pages, then she reveals to be a bad guy - and Wells is shocked! Why is he shocked - he'd already worked this out and had tried to warn others. Trust me, it wasn't a shock to anyone.

There are also a lot of questions that are left unanswered in this book, I'm hoping they will be resolved in the fourth, final book.

This review makes it sound like I hated this book, but honestly I still enjoyed it overall, they are still very quick and easy reads and the characters are likeable enough. There is enough action mixed in to keep things fresh and exciting, and I am intrigued as to where this will go next.

My Rating